Oracle wants to perfect the art of simplification

Simplifying IT operations and processes is one of the strategic imperatives for CIOs today. Simplicity now directly translates into speed, flexibility, agility and success in business. Interestingly, the concept of simplification also goes beyond just cost-savings, and can help achieve operational excellence and efficiencies if IT leaders can embrace this new IT culture.

With the increasing consumerisation of IT, employees want an enhanced user experience for business applications and systems without much training, which is difficult to do with corporate software. And CIOs are turning to vendors to accomplish that goal.

Vendors, on their part, are responding to this rising demand and a case in point is Oracle, which has started shipping its next-gen suite of business applications that promise to change the way we work and adopt technology. Called Fusion Applications, this combines the best elements of Oracle’s various business software product lines into a next-gen suite with a special emphasis on improving the user experience with simple and standardised interfaces.

Changing ways of the application world

“Look at the way Internet has transformed how business users work by offering them a completely different experience. This has changed the way Oracle looks at users and the way we develop applications. We started the project to re-write all the applications to enable users to collaborate better though Fusion Applications,” shares Fadi Abdulhalek, VP MEA, Public Cluster Leader, Oracle Corporation.

Probably what makes Fusion unique is the fact that it is based on SOA which will allow users to easily tie together the next-gen applications with what you already have deployed. “It changes the game in two fundamental ways – you can leverage latest technologies and co-exist with what you already have. Another key thing is how applications can improve productivity, which can be as high as 50 percent.”

Oracle says one of the biggest pain points in IT today is integration, which often accounts for a huge chunk of IT budgets. “This is what we are trying to address and allow organisations to manage and control their costs,” says Abdulhalek.

He adds that the IT environment is getting more and more complex, and we need to rethink how can make life more simple for IT professionals. “Traditionally, the technology usage was limited but today everyone has access to technology, so the base is really broad. And users demand a lot from these systems and easy-to-use interfaces. Oracle was in a unique position to do that and we had the tools to re-mould these applications to meet those needs.”

All-in-one and easy to deploy

Oracle is now looking at engineering innovation by rolling out engineered systems such that combines the company’s software with servers, networking and storage that are easy to deploy. “This reflects Oracle’s fundamentally different approach to delivering technology that is engineered to work together. And the most important thing here is this will allow customers to innovate and deliver things more effectively,” says Abdulhalek.

Oracle, which is about to introduce a next-gen version of the Exadata database machine, the first and most successful of its engineered systems, will be present at GITEX TECHNOLOGY WEEK 2012, along with subject matter experts to demonstrate how the company is driving innovation and reshaping the user experience.